John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which was shot in Jaipur last year and which features a large number of Indian actors opened this week in Britain and the rest Europe to heartening reviews.
However the size of the parts played by the Indian actors including Slumdog Millionaire's hero Dev Patel, is borderline negligible. Lilette Dubey who plays a feisty character doesn't even get a mention in the opening credit titles.
Lilette Dubey & Indian cast gets raw deal in British filmYet another instance of Asian actors getting a raw deal out West?
Lilette Dubey tries to stoutly defend her abbreviated part. "it's not like a Hindi film where one is promised the sun and moon with the stars, and then one ends up with two minutes on screen. All of us Indian actors and that included many players from my plays like Neena Kulkarni and Rajendra Gupta, were told exactly what we had to do. The film is about the British characters. It features stalwarts like Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Tom Wilkinson. It would be slightly unrealistic to expect me and the other Indian actors to have pivotal roles."
At the same time Lilette admits she should have insisted on being billed in the opening credits. "But it's not their fault. I should've put it into my contract. I've to admit it's a bit of a shock to see my name missing in the opening credits when even Tina Desai is mentioned."
Not wanting to sound petulant, Lilette quickly adds, "I did it for the pleasure of being directed by John Madden and for working with Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. They made it memorable. I remember for one scene where Maggie was supposed to give me an off camera cue she sat on her wheelchair in the burning sun of Jaipur for 4
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